


Dust and debris

by allegedlyanandroid



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Because I'm a sucker for those, Blood and Injury, Brief Hospitalization, Gavin is... Not, Happy Ending, Implied Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Mild Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nines is Calm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24786244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allegedlyanandroid/pseuds/allegedlyanandroid
Summary: Trapped beneath rubble and debris, Gavin struggles to find a distraction from the feeling of inevitable death lingering around the edges of his mind. It'shard, especially when he realises his android partner isn't as well-off as he's been led to believe.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 14
Kudos: 142





	Dust and debris

**Author's Note:**

> CW: blood and injuries

**Dust and debris**

Gavin comes back to consciousness gradually. Blinking his eyes open to such encompassing and utter darkness that, for a moment, he wonders if he’d gone blind.

Pain followed closely after, flickering bursts of it at first before it promptly rose into a cacophony of hurt. It causes him to pull in a sharp breath, which he instantly chokes on. He coughs violently; lungs working tirelessly to take in much needed air instead of dust. Gavin shifts as much as he can, with his left arm pinned to the ground and legs numb and unresponsive. _‘I can’t feel my legs,’_ keeps spinning in his mind on repeat and his breathing picks up as he feels the beginnings of a panic attack dawning on him.

In an effort to distract himself, he lifts his right hand up as far as it can go in the limited space next to his head. His hand brushes across something hard and smooth, something that gives away slightly as he presses firmly against it.

“Detective Reed.”

Nines’ voice cuts through his increasingly panicked thoughts and he stills where he lays sprawled on his back, hand resting on what he assumes is his partner’s collarbone. “Nines? What- what happened?”

“The building collapsed,” Nines replies, voice fizzling out at the end.

“Right. Yes,” Gavin mutters. “You doin’ okay?”

“I am attempting to keep approximately eight hundred and thirty seven pounds of concrete from crushing us both. I’ve had to redirect sixty five percent of my current functioning power as I am low on charge. It impairs my ability to scan you or our surroundings.”

“Well... ‘m fine,” Gavin says, trying to keep as still as possible as to not make any distressing noises to tell Nines otherwise.

He’s starting to remember the way they’d finally found enough evidence to track down one of the notorious, human scumbags who’d experimented on androids just for the hell of it. They’d been in the basement of an old industrial building where the suspect had set up a makeshift lab. It had been filled with his grotesque experiments. The broken androids gazing at them with hollow eyes and pleading voices sounding like they were being dragged out of their throats through gravel and jagged glass.

It had been sickening.

Of course the suspect couldn’t have just come quietly. Of course he’d had to set off some sort of chain reaction with whatever chemicals he’d been working with. Of course the building had been structurally unsound from the start and had folded in on itself like a house of cards.

Gavin is beginning to grow more uncomfortable by the second. Without having his hand pressed against the side of Nines’ throat, he‘d have though himself alone. And the pain is starting to really scream at him now; turning his thoughts muddled instead of sharp.

“-vin!”

“Wha-?”

“You blacked out.” Nines’ voice is sharp around the edges even while it still manages to sound wrong. More mechanical than usual… too synthetic to be human.

“Hah, _lame,”_ Gavin grins, blinking his eyes rapidly to no avail.

“Indeed,” Nines says, drily. “Talk to me detective.”

“‘Bout what?”

“Anything. You need to stay conscious or I won’t be able to help you,” Nines explains quietly.

A thought passes through Gavin’s muddled mind and it irks enough to make him surge upwards. ‘Bad move’ he thinks to himself as his left arm is jostled and he feels a sharp, stabbing pain in his shoulder that doesn’t recede. He would have screamed if the sudden inhaling of dirt hadn’t choked him first.

“Calm down, Gavin. _Breathe._ I can’t help if you go into shock either.”

Gavin focuses on the sound of his partner’s voice. “I-I’m- I’m t-trying dipshit!” he manages to say through a bout of vicious coughing.

Another minute passes while he slowly regains control of his lungs and he collects himself enough to finally voice the intrusive question flickering stubbornly through his mind. “How long before we run out of air?”

Nines remains quiet for a moment. “Approximately twelve minutes.”

“Really? Now you choose not to be precise?!”

“Eleven minutes and fifteen seconds. Don’t panic.”

“I’m not panicking.” Gavin growls although they both know that’s a boldfaced lie. _‘Well... could be worse,’_ he thinks, _‘at least I get to go out with Nines practically lying on top of me. Isn’t that what I wanted?’_

“What the fuck?” he says aloud, shocked with himself and the path his treacherous mind had suddenly led him down.

There’s no answer and Gavin takes it as an initiative to move his hand down from Nines’ jaw. He smooths it over the lapel of his jacket, going further down to slightly below where a human’s left lung would have been before stilling. “The hell is that?!”

“It is nothing. Don’t worry about it,” Nines replies smoothly.

“Don’t worry about it?!” Gavin interjects. He runs the tip of his fingers over the object producing from Nines’ torso, carefully feeling up the five inches of steel rod dripping with thirium. The sides are ridged, similar to a screw with a sharp, pointed end.

This is when he realises why Nines had so adamantly been keeping the upper half of his body as far from Gavin as possible, despite the awkward angle. A few inches more and he’d have much more to worry about than a banged up shoulder.

_“Nines."_

“It looks worse than it is,” Nines tries to reassure.

“Not like you can see anything either. How much blood have you lost?”

“It’s not important t-“

“How much blood have you lost?” Gavin interrupts and imagines the sound he hears is Nines’ teeth clicking together in irritation. He can almost envision the displeased, pursed lips and cold grey eyes boring into his.

“Remaining thirium levels are less than optimal, however, it should be enough to keep me from shutting down before backup arrives.”

“You think they’re coming for us?” Gavin asks offhandedly as he rubs the ruined fabric of Nines’ shirt between two fingers.

“The explosion might have tipped them off,” Nines says.

Gavin huffs out a small laugh in response, which does nothing to still the anxiety still lurking just underneath the surface. He vows to keep it together long enough for them to get out of here even as the blindness and silence slowly but surely continues to unsettle him. Whenever Nines is silent there is only the sound of his own breaths to keep him grounded in reality.

A few droplets of thirium continually drip down the steel-bar and he notices how it has slowly soaked through the fabric of his own shirt. Another terrifying thought slams into him with the force of a brick. “Does it hurt?” His voice is small, quiet, and it’s strange to hear how unlike him it sounds.

Deviants feel pain. It had been somewhat of a conundrum even for their supposed maker as to how androids had continued to develop after deviating. Pain, pleasure and temperature became more prominent after deviating according to Connor. And Nines (despite his tendency to act like a machine) had deviated almost a month prior.

“Don’t think about it,” Nines’ voice carries a faint tingle of static that doesn’t help to reassure Gavin in the slightest. “You’re going to be alright.”

“Me?! I’m not the one who‘s been fucking impaled!”

“I’ve had worse.” Nines mentions it so casually and in such a deadpan tone Gavin can’t tell if he’s joking or not.

“Damn it Nines!” Gavin doesn’t quite yell but it’s a near thing. He never gets to hear the response because a loud, grinding noise is heard from above and more dust cascades over them. Nines’ arms quiver slightly before stilling again. It is only through the hand he’s kept steady on Nines’ chest that he can feel the way thirium starts to run down his torso in thick rivulets and the way the android’s chest is suddenly much, _much_ closer.

The steel rod is resting against his own lower chest with enough pressure to feel distinctly uncomfortable. “W-what-?”

_“Di-iii-ggii-nnng.”_

Nines’ voice is heavier with static than Gavin has ever heard before and the vowels are too drawn out. He can barely make out the words pushing through Nines’ straining voice module. The rubble shifts again and Gavin can just make out a sliver of blue sky before it is covered by stone once more.

The rod breaks skin, forcing its way through flesh and muscle and Gavin bites his lower lip bloody to keep from crying out.

He punches his closed fist against Nines’ chest instead.

“I’m sorry,” Nines whispers, nearly incomprehensible with how tinny and wrecked it sounds.

“Shut up,” Gavin wheezes. _‘It’s not your fault’_ is what he wants to say though the words get stuck in his throat when it’s a struggle to do more than _breathe._

“Gavin-“

Is that a note of worry in Nines’ tone?

“I’m fine,” he gasps, the acrid taste of bile on his tongue as he struggles fruitlessly to remain conscious through the crashing pain lacing throughout his body.

“You are most certainly n-“ Nines’ voice cuts of abruptly.

All the shifting rubble is steadily decreasing their shared pocket of space. Gavin finds he can barely move his right arm anymore, but he uses what little space they have left to move it enough to clasp the collar of Nines’ jacket. Another high-pitched screech of metal shifting and this time he finds himself unable to withhold a scream of shock and agony. He coughs wetly, tasting copper, when the rod pushes further into him as a result of his own convulsing body.

“Nines, y-you have t-to-“ spots dance at the edges of his vision, bursts of starlight in a dark sea. He blinks rapidly and notes that they don’t disappear; small spots of light too far above to reach.

“Nines,” he whispers, not sure of what else to say. He can just barely glimpse the line of his shoulder in the light filtering through the rubble.

The pain is fading, muted and gone in the span of seconds. Gavin distantly notes how it isn’t a good sign at all, despite not being able to rationalise why, and neither is the cold slowly creeping its way around him in a tight noose to settle deep within his bones.

The thumb he strokes over Nines’ jaw comes back wet. _‘How odd’._

Nines whispers words too garbled for Gavin to make out properly while the world shakes apart around them. Suddenly he finds himself wondering why the light is burning brighter even as it darkens at the corners, swimming in and out of focus as another jolt shudders through their bodies.

Pain returns to him tenfold, with his vision flickering to black for a long moment. His head tilts backwards and he stares up at the bluest sky he’s ever seen, marvelling at the light brushstrokes of white clouds and shades of pastel colours reflected on them, before promptly passing out.

-~-

Struggling towards consciousness always reminds him of diving down to deep and then pushing up towards the surface. That eerie feeling of never really getting any closer until suddenly you break through the water’s edge and into the air. The same blinding light to sting your eyes; although at the moment the hospital ceiling seems far brighter than the sun could ever hope to be.

Gavin squints up at it. He’s far too stubborn to close them again after managing to open his eyes in the first place; searing pain be damned.

“-I’ll inform the nurse,” Nines says from beside him. Gavin whips his head around, or tries to anyways, wincing as he does so, to look over at his partner.

Nines appears none the worse for wear. He sits as he always does, intimidatingly straight-backed and hands folded in his lap. The white, CyberLife-issued jacket (sans markings) is once again clean and whole, impeccably dressed and not a hair laying out of place apart from the errant tuft which, without fail, continues to lay over his forehead. It makes him wonder how he must look in comparison. _‘Similar to a drowned sewer rat after it’s been slammed repeatedly against a wall,’_ his thoughts helpfully pipe up.

“First decree when I get out of this bed is that I’m putting a _fucking_ bell on you,” Gavin says hoarsely.

Nines levels him with a thoroughly unimpressed look, tilting his head to one side in mock-consideration. “I think you’d look better than me in a collar.”

Gavin splutters but is thankfully saved from answering by the arrival of one of the nurses on call. It does, however, also mean he’s forced to turn his head away and, in doing so, he misses the small quirk of a smile gracing Nines’ lips for the fragment of a second.

“Mr. Reed! You’re awake!” The nurse walks forward with purpose, bringing up the chart displaying his vitals and physical state. “I’ll need to ask you some questions, run some tests, take some samples. I’m sure you’re familiar with how it all works by now.”

“Yeah, yeah... do your worst,” Gavin grumbles, resigning himself to being poked and prodded for a while. Answering tedious questions that will bring nothing but scepticism; in part because his pain tolerance is a great deal higher than what most would consider normal.

Eventually they’re left alone once more, Nines still perched in his chair and only moving to help Gavin when he tries to struggle into a sitting position as well. Nines sinks down again when Reed seemingly gets used to the new centre of gravity and manages to remain seated without further assistance.

It’s quiet for a short while afterwards before Nines decides to break it to say:

“I am sorry.”

“What for?”

“I couldn’t-“ Nines trails off, voice uncharacteristically muted and insecure. He turns his head to stare down at his hands, “I couldn’t bear the weight and you were injured because of it.”

“Listen dumbass, you saved fucking my life. You don’t have anything to fucking apologise for! Better injured than dead,” Gavin says, pausing briefly between each sentence to really drive the point home. He reaches over and taps two fingers to the LED circling red at Nines’ temple. “See you got your high-tech mood ring back.” He continues in an effort to lighten the mood.

The LED flickers between colours quickly; Nines remaining frozen in place long enough for Gavin to feel slightly worried. “Uh... I didn’t break you, did I?”

Nines collects himself and with a final spin of yellow, his LED returns to the standard, calm blue it usually displays. “No. What you did was unexpected. That’s all.”

“Ah.” Gavin offers up a slight grimace. “They stitch you back up again too?” he adds, trying to bypass the sudden tension lingering in the air.

“In a sense,” Nines says, cryptically. He doesn’t particularly care to elaborate further but Gavin (being Gavin) is as stubborn as they come and refuses to accept any sort of half-assed response.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means-“ Nines sighs, “that my model is one of a kind, and therefore replacement parts are hard to come by.”

Gavin blinks in faux-incomprehension.

Nines sighs again, no doubt tired with Gavin's shit, and stands up to shrug off his jacket much to Gavin’s ~~delight~~ shock. He figures that perhaps he should say something but whatever words or demands his rebooting brain manages to scramble together dissipates just as quickly when Nines tugs the tight, black turtleneck he’s wearing up and over his head. It leaves Gavin to marvel at his exposed torso.

Smooth, pale skin mottled with freckles and the occasional beauty mark. Deceivingly lithe and muscular... and missing a chunk of circuitry and plastic where the industrial rebar had pierced straight through him.

The ragged, circular wound is devoid of synthetic skin for almost an inch around it and the wound itself is sealed off with what appears to be a clear strip of plastic. The cauterised wires glow with occasional sparks of blue before being redirected through the intricate non-damaged wiring that substitutes for a human’s nervous system.

“I’ve been made aware that this-“ Nines gestures towards the wound, “-looks rather unpleasant.”

Gavin’s eyes snap up from where they’d been intently assessing the damaged circuitry to lock gazes with Nines. “Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore. I’ve lowered my pain sensitivity significantly.”

“Neat feature. Wish I could do that,” Gavin murmurs as he gestures for Nines to step closer. Curious to see where such an action would lead, Nines complies. He stops right beside where Gavin’s right hand rests on the bed and waits.

It takes no time at all for Gavin to reach out and gently (far more gently than he though himself capable of) stroke his fingers over the very edges where plastic chassis meets clear whatever-it-is. The touch is light as a feather, a barely there pressure that Nines’ hypersensitive processors struggles to dissect. It feels... nice?

It takes longer than they both care to admit before Gavin removes his hand and Nines is barely able to hold himself back from instinctively following the warm digits as they fall away from his body.

Gavin clears his throat somewhat awkwardly. “They’ll replace it soon?”

“Quite,” Nines replies, eyes flickering down to follow the movement of Gavin’s tongue nervously running over his bottom lip. Nines wants to take it between his teeth, to pull at the pink, supple flesh until it darkens and swells with blood. He wants to run his fingers through Gavin’s already messy hair to disrupt it further. He wants to leave marks running down his partner’s exposed throat and sink his teeth into the junction between his shoulder and neck. Nines _wants._

Perhaps somewhat aware of the struggle Nines is going through, noticeable only in the darkening of his slate grey eyes and widening of his pupils, Gavin decides to throw caution to the wind because, fuck it, part of him had wanted to do this since the moment he’d first laid eyes on Nines in the precinct.

He slides a hand over to the back of Nines’ neck and tugs him down to slot their lips together in a messy, misaligned kiss.

Nines freezes. The sudden swell in information rendering him still as a statue to cope and the prolonged unresponsiveness has Gavin doubting if he’d read the signs right. As he starts to withdraw, Nines surges forward to keep them connected, slotting a hand into Gavin’s hair with a spark of satisfaction when Reed seems to give a full-body shudder at the sensation.

Gavin’s lips are dry from dehydration and slightly chapped in contrast to Nines’ smooth ones. He gently swipes his tongue over the seam of them, licking into Nines’ mouth when it opens around a gasp, mixing saliva with analysing fluid. It rapidly becomes clear that Nines has no idea what he’s doing and, at first, seems content enough to let Gavin lead him through the motions and coax his tongue into action.

They part long enough for Gavin to draw a quick, necessary breath before Nines descends on him again and mimics the motions he’d been shown mere moments prior.

Nines is, if anything, a quick study.

When they break apart the second time, Nines can’t stop himself from capturing Gavin’s lower lip between his teeth and biting down firmly. He smirks at the surprised moan he receives in response and Gavin jerks away, cheeks stained a delicious pink in embarrassment. Nines licks his lips, capturing the moisture of their shared fluids on his tongue and, for once, discards the analysis appearing on his HUD without reading it first.

Nines straightens up and tugs his shirt back on a nano-second before the nurse from earlier barges in through the door. “Your heart rate spiked,” she huffs out. “Is something the matter?”

“No, we’re good,” Gavin lies. She raises a sceptical eyebrow but leaves again, muttering under her breath, after Nines reassures her of the same. They both stare at the closed door in silence for a moment before Gavin begins laughing quietly, the back of his hand pressed against his mouth in an effort to hide the wide grin accompanying it.

Nines perks up. He regards Gavin carefully and decides, then and there, that he quite adores the way Gavin’s eyes crinkle at the corners when he laughs. He traces a finger over the ridges curiously until his partner shakes his head to dislodge him.

“I’m gonna sleep for a while,” Gavin mutters, bone-deep weariness a by-product of both his injuries and the pain medication coursing through his veins. So he carefully flops back down in a resting position and squints up at Nines for a moment.

“I’ll be here when you wake up,” Nines reassures, stroking his hand through Gavin’s hair and down his cheek and throat to rest it over the place where his heart lies cradled beneath his ribs. Nines finds the steady thrum of his beating heart to be soothing.

“Well, who asked you to?”

“Go to sleep Gavin,” Nines says, fondly with something dangerously close to a sigh.

In the moment he feels Gavin’s heartbeat slow beneath his fingertips, sleep starting to pull him under, Nines leans down to press a tender kiss against Gavin’s temple with a small content smile.

He settles back into his designated chair and waits.

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with my excessive use of italics. Feel free to drop a kudos or a comment, it never fails to make my day!
> 
> Tumblr - [allegedlyanandroid](https://allegedlyanandroid.tumblr.com/)


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